By Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya  

Public Security Minister Tiran Alles decided to suspend the Expression of Interest (EOI) related to the issuance of electronic passports or ‘e-passport’ and call for tenders.  
Expressions of Interest (EOI) had been called for the issuing of ‘e-passports’ and many of the applicants had complained to the Ministry of Public Security regarding certain technical difficulties in the EOI.  

The Ministry said that the Cabinet has approved a Cabinet paper presented by Minister Alles to appoint a special technical evaluation committee for the related matter and to call for a new tender to issue ‘e-passport’ considering the current economic situation.  

Accordingly, Minister Alles has cancelled the call for bids for EOI and decided to call for tenders through the normal procurement process.  

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Ministry said that more than 700,000 e-passports should be issued per year and it will cost about 15 million US dollars.  

The official said that millions of US dollars had to be spent on the machines used to issue the passports and that the issuance of e-passports has also become difficult due to the high cost.